'Stop attacks on govt officials'

The government has called on striking workers to tone down on their rhetorics and stop personality attacks as the government tries to address their concerns.

It said the best way to address the concerns of striking workers was for the government and organised labour to go to the negotiating table, instead of resorting to a war of words.

A deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mr Felix Ofosu Kwakye, made the call at a media briefing at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday.

His call came three days after the suggestion by the Presidential Advisor on National Security, Brigadier-General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (retd), that workers who went on strike should not be paid.

His call incurred the displeasure of striking workers, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC), leading to condemnations.

"The government is urging striking workers to tone down on the rhetorics and also cut back on some of the personal attacks that they have launched at some government officials who are involved in the processes leading to the resolution of these matters,' Mr Ofosu Kwakye said.

He said even the most serious conflicts, at the end of the day, "are resolved around the negotiating table and not through a war of words".

Therefore, he said, the government had called for restraint, even as it moved to address the concerns that had been raised.

The deputy minister said organised labour or public sector workers from the various fronts had, in the last few days, embarked on industrial action as a way of putting across some grievances.

He said the government, indeed, acknowledged their right to embark on strike.

However, he said in the last few days, some of the rhetorics that had come up from some of the leaders of labour unions that had embarked on strikes had left much to be desired.

Mr Ofosu Kwakye said the government rolled out the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) as a way of encouraging public sector workers to give of their best and improve conditions of service.

Therefore, he said, the government wanted a national debate on the SSPP as a way of addressing the challenges associated with its implementation.

By Musah Yahaya Jafaru/Daily Graphic/Ghana